Iraqis use YouTube to send up life in war zone

Watch: American soldiers show they can also laugh at themselves in this music video

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British soldiers recreate 'The way to Amarillo'

By Our Foreign Staff

2:35PM GMT 29 Jan 2008

Iraqis are embracing the internet to lampoon the war with often dark humour, with British and American soldiers, firebrand clerics and the danger of terrorist attacks featuring in "blooper" videos.

In dozens of submissions on the internet video sharing website, YouTube, Iraqis are sending up everyday life in their country with Western soldiers coming in for particular attention.

Many videos show male US soldiers dancing clumsily with their Iraqi counterparts or with people in the streets, an integral part of Iraqi culture. People fall, lurch into one another, and in one featuring Iraqi policemen they even drop their trousers.

One minute-long segment captures an American military policeman, complete with flak jacket and weapon, spinning round while a group of Iraqi policemen cheer him on, while another shows an American soldier attempting to sing in Arabic with an Iraqi colleague.

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The videos are in stark contrast to the thousands of postings by insurgent groups depicting assaults on American and Iraqi forces, sniper attacks, roadside bombings and pro-terrorist propaganda.

Another video shows an American soldier repeating Arabic phrases told to him by a group of locals, apparently unaware of what they are actually saying. The soldier is reported to say: "Bring us back to our family, bring us home... The salary is not that good either."

The rise of radical religious militias, such as the Mahdi army of Moqtada al-Sadr, have also drawn fire from internet posters.

To animation taken from the film Happy Feet, the firebrand Shia cleric is portrayed as the "chief" penguin who dances while his follower penguins shout his name. The over-dubbed Arabic music is taken from a rally rallies held by the militia and Sadr's supporters.

Not all Iraqis approve of their leaders being belittled, and comments posted on the site beneath the videos reflect the wide divergence of opinion that characterises the country's political landscape.

"Shame on you to liken Moqtada al-Sadr to a penguin and humiliate him in front of all the world," says a poster named Wisam on the penguin clip. "It is indeed a shame," agrees a poster named Abdul. "He and his donkeys are far worse than penguins."

Away from the dance floor, two policemen are shown in one clip stopping a truck. As the edgy pair bend down to inspect the underside of the vehicle the driver blows his horn, giving both policemen such a fright that they fall over backwards.

The US military has itself taken to posting video clips on YouTube showing American troops in combat and insurgents being bombed in a "boots on the ground" perspective of the Iraq war.

Multi-National Forces Iraq created a "channel" on the popular video-sharing website last March to show the clips, which often capture the intensity of combat while generally showing US troops in a positive light.

Unsurprisingly, American soldiers have also taken their turn to lighten up their tours. One group recorded a song and dance routine of their daily exertions, training and downtime for YouTube, to the theme of Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant.

A hilarious re-working of the Tony Christie classic "The Way to Amarillo", thought to have been shot by British troops from the Royal Dragoon Guards, has also won plenty of fans on the website.

The most famous “blooper” video from the Iraq war is of the late al-Qa’eda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, attempting to fire a machine gun from the shoulder. The gun jams, and one of his masked minions runs over to clear the action as Zarqawi looks on nonplussed. He was killed months later in an American airstrike.